[Nick Beale]

This a difficult time frame: 10 days or so into the final Allied offensive and a week before the Germans in Italy surrendered. I've looked at a fair bit of luftwaffe material from Italy in 1945 but I don't remember anything about Flak successes (although it wasn't what I was after).

Army Flak (even small arms) could have been responsible though if your Kittyhawk was attacking troops in the field. There were also Italian anti-aircraft units in Northern Italy, although I'mnot sure how active they were at this late stage.